Update: Cars parked in new bike lanes - until the pylons came

SOUTH BEND - The cityÂ?s brand-new bike lanes along Mishawaka Avenue hit a rough spot Monday afternoon, and that explains why you see orange pylons today in front of Indiana University South Bend.

Bruce Spitzer, an IUSB professor who bikes a few blocks to work, says he saw three cars parked over the lane about 4:30 p.m. Monday. He told one woman who parked there, talking on her cell phone, that it was a bike lane. She told him that she didnÂ?t care.

By about 6 p.m., 12 cars were parked over the lanes in an area where new signs show there is no parking, he says. He alerted a city police officer.

The officer then issued tickets with a fine to the 12 cars, says South Bend Police Capt. Phil Trent.

Monday was the first day of summer classes at IUSB, which likely could have been the source of the parked cars.

This morning, Lt. Morrie DeGuyter of the IUSB safety department observed that someone had placed orange pylons to mark off the bike lanes - which he said were free of parked cars.

City crews started to paint the lanes last week and are continuing to finish them all the way east to Logan Street this week. Mishawaka Avenue was chosen because it was so wide that no parking would be lost in the process. But about a dozen parking spots were lost near Wiekamp Hall.